The abundant forest he remembered as a boy had shrivelled down so much only 0.5 per cent of the land was covered with trees.

He told the Guardian: ‘The land was as sick as I was – everything was destroyed.’

Restoring the land to its former glory would be a mammoth task, so in 1998 the Salgados set up the Instituto Terra – an organisation ‘dedicated to the sustainable development of the Valley of the River Doce.’

Now the area has status as a Private Natural Heritage Reserve and is home to 172 types of birds, 33 varieties of mammals and 15 kinds of reptiles and amphibians.

Hundreds of species of trees and plants now grow there, dried up springs have started flowing again and the micro-climate has changed.

Reflecting on the success of the project, Salgado said: ‘All the insects and birds and fish returned, and, thanks to this increase of the trees, I too, was reborn – this was the most important moment.’